


Convince Me

by Era_Penn



Series: The Idiot Genius and His Somewhat Blind Hawk [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Clint is marginally more healthy than Tony, Developing Relationship, First Date, Fluff, Friendship, Gifts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pranks, Pre-Slash, Shovel Talk, Team as Family, Tony Feels, clintony - Freeform, hawkiron, mentions of past domestic abuse, oblivious idiots, sciencebros, self-hate, to Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Era_Penn/pseuds/Era_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Clint have been dancing around each other for months; Tony because he is an idiot and doesn't think he deserves anything as good as Clint Barton, and Clint because he is blind to his own emotions and doesn't realize he loves the genius.</p><p>Natasha feels the need to hit him with a clue-by-four.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so. Part 2 may be getting bonus chapters detailing some pranks, but for the moment it's done as I want to move on to the actual story.
> 
> Barton is an idiot and Tony needs a hug.

Tony Stark was elated at the cessation of his fight with Clint Barton. He wasn't stupid, he could recognize his own emotions… usually. In this case, at least, he knew very well that he was in love with the archer (and he'd known for a while - since The Mission they never talked about. Ever). Unfortunately, he was also very aware that the archer would in no way ever feel anywhere near the same. After all, Clint was _amazing_. He could shoot like nobody’s business and had an amazing sense of humor. He’d come out of such a bad past and so many terrible situations with a heart of gold, and he was trying to make it better. And did he mention those arms and eyes and smile?

Tony was a mass-murderer trying to atone with the reddest hands of anyone on the planet, never mind that he hadn't been the one to pull the trigger. Why would Clint want a shattered playboy (which was really just a nice way to say slut) inventor with a lump of metal lodged in his chest and more scars than he could count? Tony was ugly inside and out, and he tended to ruin things before they even started, even his father had agreed, when people were involved - it was probably his punishment for everything he’d ever done wrong, the loneliness. Whatever power there be was just merciful enough to let him have friends. (Probably to rip them away again soon, but hey, he could look on the bright side)

So Tony was fine with being friends. Really - he didn't have many of those. And the two of them had a LOT of fun, mostly at their teammates' expense. 

Speaking of… he sniggered as he left his thoughts to return to the task at hand (he was as brilliant at avoiding his emotions as he was at recognizing them).

Making the elevators sound like Nazgul every time they moved (except when it was Clint - did he mention they got along now?)

:) His brain replied.

* * *

Clint Barton was happy he was no longer fighting with Tony Stark. He quite liked the eccentric genius. He was funny, genius, snarky - everything a guy could want in a best friend. He felt a tiny pang somewhere in his mind at the ‘friend’ thing, but he didn't have a clue what that was about; he was terrible at his own emotions. Natasha would explain it to him.

Returning to the task at hand, he grinned, hoping Coulson was the one to walk into the glue-confetti-fan.


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha was annoyed. She felt the need to ascertain that from the beginning. She’d known for a long time that she could hardly have been saddled with a bigger childish idiot to keep as a partner, but this was just sad.

“Well? What does it mean?”

“Explain again. I want to be sure, because this is reaching a new level of ridiculous.”

“I was thinking about how Tony and I are friends and my chest hurt.”

“So your heart was hurting.”

“No, my chest.”

“It was definitely your heart, Barton. Боже мой, you’ve been pining after him for _months_!”

Clint’s mouth made an o (quite similar to that one time she’d hit him with a two-by-four) before his face flared into utter panic mode. “I’m in love with Tony Stark. Oh God, why, this is the road to ruin, he’s the smartest, richest man alive and he could have anyone he wanted, why would he want me? I mean, I’m a decent enough bloke, but I’m not, like, Adam Levine or Brad Pitt -”

Natasha’s eyebrow twitched dangerously. “I can’t even.” she walked away.

“NOOOOO, HELP MEEEEEE,” her partner said, following.

Idiot.


	3. Chapter 3

“How the hell do I woo a genius billionaire?”

“Playboy, philanthropist.” Natasha added. She had not planned to become Clint’s advice-person when she’d hit him with her clue-by-four, but of course she was. Why would she expect any different? “I don’t have a clue, ask Phil.”

“He’ll laugh at me.”

“I laughed at you.”

“Yeah, and I’d rather not face it twice, that was terrifying.”

“You’re trying to woo Stark.” her lips twitched, a little. “That’s a little backwards.”

“Nah, I don’t think it is.” Clint looked thoughtful. “I doubt Tony’s much good at wooing. He seems the type to go waaay overboard. Also, I get the feeling he’s a lot more insecure than he leads people to believe.”

That was surprisingly deep. And astute. “Well then, if you are decided.” a nod. “What does he like.”

“Robots. Pranks. Uuuuh… heavy metal. Good food, especially high-end Italian and really crappy Chinese, for some reason. Metal. Engineering. Complaining about other peoples’ shit engineering… uh…”

“Well, you’re off to a good start, though I’d cross pranks off of your list.” Natasha said, amused. “You already prank together.”

“But what do I do?”

“That is your job.”


	4. Chapter 4

Tony blinked. There was a shitty remote control car sitting in the middle of his work table with a giant bow on top. Why was there such a travesty in his shop? Who would ever imagine he would possibly appreciate this nonsense as a gift? He tore the packaging open. He could build a better one in his sleep! Just a little wiring there… and a different battery… and some paint… and… and… 

“Tony?”

He jumped a foot in the air and shrieked, vehemently pretending that he hadn’t. “Bruce! What are you doing down here, it’s only been…” he glanced at the clock, and his eyebrows shot up. Refurbishing the car had taken up a lot more time than he thought, and it had been _fun_. He hadn’t happily giggled maniacally over a machine like that in years.

Bruce poke warily at the little car and Tony clutched it close as it wriggled. Oooo, he’d put in an AI. “Mine.” he said, somewhat childishly. Bruce raised an eyebrow; despite what people may expect, Tony wasn’t particularly protective of his stuff. “It was a gift,” the billionaire elaborated.

“From whom?”

A pause. “I, uh, don’t know, actually. It was just sitting on my desk with a big bow.” the exhausted man sounded bewildered.

“Bedtime, Tony. It’s been two days since anyone has seen you emerge.”

He set down the car. “Heel, RC!” he commanded, astonished when the little vehicle obeyed. He really needed to go back through his blueprints and figure out exactly what he’d done to the little thing.

“Yes, and maybe stop engineering while sleep deprived.” Bruce prodded him towards the elevator, thinking. He had a sneaking suspicion about the mystery gift-giver.


	5. The Shovel Talk: Part 1

“If you break my best friend, I may get angry.”

Clint felt a chill run down his spine at the perfectly calm voice emanating from the unobtrusive doctor. “It’s not the goal.”

“Good. Nice call with the remote control car, by the way. He put in an AI of some kind and taught it basic commands like ‘heel’ ‘sit’ and ‘stay’.”

Clint gaped. “That… is not what I was expecting. But it is ridiculously awesome.”

“In the future, I expect _you_ to put him to bed if he spends too long down there.” Bruce said, still pleasant. 

“Uhhuh,” Clint managed.


	6. Chapter 6

There was a fish.

Tony stared at it like it could tell him who had placed it in the small tank in the corner of the workshop, out of his way and carefully placed where it would receive minimal disturbance from his usual work environment. A small white card with a teeny little bow propped in front read:

CASPER THE BETA FISH. FEED DAILY.

What?

“Jarvis, set an alarm to… feed… the… uh… fish… thing.” What was going on. 

“I believe someone may be attempting to ‘woo’ you, sir.”

Wait. WHAT?


	7. Chapter 7

It was a demon fish, he quickly ascertained. For one thing, it was a cannibal. (No, he did not spend six hours investigating fish and how to care for them and their tanks and such).

For another, he was pretty sure he hadn’t fed the thing in like a week. Normal fish should be dead, but this one definitely wasn’t. He got down in front of the little tank, resting his chin on the desk. “Tell me your secrets, oh high and mighty immortal Casper.” he muttered.

“Don’t think he’s immortal.”

“Pretty sure he is.” Tony mumbled back at the archer, too tired and confused and… safe? No, not going there. To jump. At him. His sudden appearance. Woah, he needed sleep.

“I fed him the days you forgot. Jarvis’ idea.” Clint said, voice gentle. How long had he been standing there, watching Tony rant over the stupid fish? It was soothing to sit and watch it float around though, so he was perfectly content here. Wait, why would he be going anywhere else? Oh, right. Sleep. Clint was saying that right now too. “...slept? You obviously need to take a nap.”

“Don’ wanna.” he pouted, but slowly and surely, the archer prodded him towards the stairs, and then up them, and then into his bedroom, bullying him into the shower before he left. Tony got out, dried off, and fell asleep thinking about his fish.

How had Clint known about Casper, anyway?

Could Clint be the one…

Nah. He’d never be that lucky.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: I am adding a 'past abuse' tag. If this is likely to be triggering to you in anyway, please stop reading. Nothing graphic at this point.

Within the week, Tony had a super soft stuffed penguin, an erector set, a collection of animal keychains, and a box of awesome fake tattoos. (He’d already put one on, but no one needed to know that)

“Jarvis, I need, call Pepper, I need, uh, Pepper.”

“Dialing Miss Potts.”

“Wait, no - I don’t think I’m supposed to talk to my ex about -”

“Tony?”

“Uuuh, hi, Pep.”

A pause. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

“You’ve got this tone of voice that is making me worried.” Pepper hung up, leaving Tony to stare at the pile of presents in front of him and panic.

* * *

Pepper found him in that exact same spot when she arrived a half hour later. “What are all of these?”

“Gifts.” Tony said, sounding really confused. “I don’t get it, Pep. Why is someone giving me presents?”

“Usually that occurs because someone likes you,” she replied gently, trying not to laugh at the odd, perfect assortment of gifts in front of her. She looked down when something bumped her leg and blinked, picking up the small remote control car and depositing it on Tony’s lap where, for lack of a better word, it purred.

“Gave me that too, but I improved him,” Tony said vaguely. “It’s confusing Pep. No one’s ever given me presents like this before. Am I supposed to give one back, or figure out who is doing it?”

“Don’t you know -”

Tony hesitated. “Could be… nope, no clue. Clint keeps feeding Casper though, otherwise it’d be dead.” because of course the robot was a him and the fish was an it.

Pepper couldn’t resist. She patted him on the head. “If they’re doing this anonymously, they probably don’t want you to give anything back. They want to woo you.” For the first time in decades, she watched in delighted shock as, high on the billionaire’s cheekbones, a slight pink flush spread across his skin. “Who do you want them to be from?”

The flush deepened. So there was someone, even if he wouldn’t tell -

“Legolas.” he replied, so softly she almost missed it, and _Oh_ , he was far gone over the archer. She hadn’t seen him like this since Tiberius. A chill of hate ran down her spine when she remembered the other businessman.

“Why not ask him?”

“Because it isn’t him, it _can’t_ be him. In what universe would I get that lucky?”

All of them, Pepper thought. All of them.


	9. The Shovel Talk: Part 2

Clint was minding his own business, brainstorming ideas for presents, when he heard the sharp tapping of stilettos (which had been known to make hardened businessmen cry) making their way up from the workshop and stopping behind his chair. Slowly he tilted his head back until he could see Miss Potts standing above him with her arms crossed. He turned to face her.

“I have torn apart a much bigger, wealthier, well-connected, well-known man than you for Tony’s sake.” she said, voice sending chills up his spine. “I have destroyed women who tried to claim more than a one-night stand, protected him even from himself, from myself, I have _killed_ for Tony. And if you undo all my hard work, you will regret it.”

Clint didn’t dare look away from those eyes. Pepper Potts was a force to be reckoned with, and she had her own SHIELD file to prove it. “I won’t.”

Her eyes didn’t leave his. “Good. Now, he’s never going to figure it out.”

“He’s a genius.”

“Yeah, but that’s the problem. He tends to overthink things. He’s already figured out it’s you, I think; but he doesn’t believe it.”

Clint blinked. “Oh.”

“I suggest you do something before Colonel Rhodes returns from Afghanistan next week.”

And with that, the sharp click of her heels moving away left Clint Barton sitting in stunned, terrified silence.


	10. That Awkward Moment When You Want to Go for Burgers

Never would have pegged myself for a coward, Clint reflected six gifts and six days later. Rhodey would be back the next day, and Clint knew Tony would be spending all his time with his friend for the next couple weeks (no, he was not jealous - he just wanted to make sure he got some time with Tony to himself first).

So he’d been standing outside the workshop door for an hour.

“Should you upset master Stark,” Jarvis said from above, “My primary protocols will engage to use all force necessary in his defense.” The door slid open.

Apparently the AI was getting tired of waiting for Clint to actually enter. Tony was bent over a small bit of machine, eyes bright and body loose in a way that none of them really got to see, except down here, in his haven. Blue swirled around him, reflecting back in his brown eyes. Turning, Tony caught sight of him and lit up like a Christmas tree, beaming. “Merida! What can I d’ya for?”

“Ijustwaswonderingifyou’dgotodinnerwithme.” Clint said really, really fast. Tony blinked.

“Uh… what?”

“Would you like to come to dinner with me?” he asked, slower. 

Tony blinked again, looking confused. “Uh, sure - one sec -” he quickly locked down the lab. “Who else is coming?”

“Uh - just us. I was sorta hoping for a date?”

Tony froze, staring at him with wide eyes. “What.” he squeaked, which Clint never expected to hear coming out of his mouth. “Wait - _you’ve_ been leaving stuff all over the lab?”

“Yep,” Clint said, calming down when he wasn’t immediately rejected. “I was thinking we could go out? Uh, if you want to, er, change your shirt or something…”

Tony glanced down at his oil covered shirt and nodded. “Yeah - meet you in the common room in half hour?”

“Perfect.” Clint beamed at him. “See you then. Oh - and don’t dress fancy, it’s a burger place.”


	11. Tony is NOT a Teenage Girl... Probably.

Tony stared at the door Clint had just left through.

“J -”

“Dialing Ms. Potts.”

Tony squeaked an affirmation.

“Tony?” Pepper asked from behind him, on a video call.

“What do I wear on a date to a burger place?” He managed, a small smile beginning to overcome his shocked expression. He’d never gone somewhere casual on a date before. People usually expected him to take them out, and somewhere expensive.

Pepper’s eyes lit up. “Band tee and jeans, Tony.”

“Shouldn't I dress up a little, or something? I mean, what if -”

“Clint’s been hovering around you for weeks,” Pepper reminded him. “He knows you. Don’t freak him out by acting different all of a sudden.”

“How did you know it was Clint?!”

“I may have already given him the shovel talk.” She admitted. “Go get ready, have Jarvis call me for final inspection.”

Dazed, Tony nodded.

* * *

His mouth was dry, his palms were sweaty, and holy shit he was going on a date with Clint Barton. Clint. Amazing, amazing Clint.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't. What if he messed up or something happened? What if Clint was like- no, he wouldn't be like- no.

“Looks good,” Pepper approved. “You’d better not run away from this, Tony.” her voice was soft. “It’ll be good.”

“Yeah - I know - I just -”

“Let him take care of you, Tony,” Pepper said gently, and oh, that sounded so nice. Having someone to lean on, to cuddle on the couch, to make sure he had a reason to come home.

No more hesitating, or he’d back out.


	12. Chapter 12

Clint looked up from where he was nervously sitting at the bar when he heard someone slip in, quiet. He hadn't expected it to be Tony, who generally announced his presence somehow. The man was wearing an old band tee and a pair of jeans, and looked surprisingly nervous.

“Hey,” Tony said.

“Hey,” Clint grinned. “So… burgers?”

* * *

“Jarvis, is Tony around?” Bruce asked as he finished making dinner. Clint and Tony were the only ones not there yet, and while Clint could be counted on to feed himself, Tony couldn't.

“I am afraid Master Stark and Agent Barton are out.”

“Finally.” Natasha said, actually sighing. The others took a moment to process that.

“YES!” Steve exclaimed, punching the air, as Thor jumped up in glee. Bruce happily sat at the table.

“Seriously.” he agreed.

* * *

“Bet I can hit that guy with this,” Clint whispered.

“Bet I can hit the chick behind him.”

“What’re we betting?”

“Loser pays the bill?”

“Deal.”

As one, they pushed the spitballs in the straws and took aim.

* * *

“Hello, Ms. Potts? Yes, this is the burger establishment on fifth.”

“Oh God, what did they do?”

The manager blinked.

“We didn't mean to!” Tony cut in defensive.

“Yeah, they started it!”

“Boys, shut up. Tony, pay for repairs and/or cleaning. Barton, pay the bill.”

“Fine.” they grumbled as she hung up.

Pepper’s head hit her desk. Only Clint and Tony could destroy a restaurant on their first date.


	13. Chapter 13

Clint was elated their date had gone so well. They’d even destroyed a restaurant (and yes, that was a good thing, thank you very much). Right now, though, he was holding very, very still on the common room couch, because apparently he and Tony had fallen asleep there while watching _Star Wars_ and Tony had decided that Clint was an acceptable substitute for a pillow. Which he totally could be, if, y'know, Tony wanted.

Hey, super assassins could be sappy too.

Which was he was completely surprised by Tony’s reaction when he woke up.

* * *

Tony woke a little slowly. He was warm and comfortable, cheek pillowed against… wait. What? He sat straight up, very suddenly and abruptly wide awake. Clint stared at him in surprise. “Uh… Good morning?”

“Morning.” Tony replied. Theoretically he knew Clint was cool with him falling asleep on him, but he himself was wary of sleeping around other people, thanks to his last relationship with a male. “Um, sorry for falling asleep on you.”

“Anytime.” Clint said, smiling, as the scent of coffee drifting in from the kitchen distracted Tony and brought him shuffling to his feet, Clint following him towards the coffee machine.

And the rest of the Avengers (including Thor), who had somehow made it through the living room and into the kitchen without waking them up. Bruce was not-smirking over the pan in which he was flipping pancakes. Natasha quirked one eyebrow at them both as Steve blushed. Thor beamed at them both. “You have woken!” he exclaimed. “Do not fear, Tony, for the machine on which you rely so heavily is almost done making your favored drink.”

Tony’s lips twitched, because what the hell, he _knew_ Thor knew exactly what coffee was; and as he started to wake up with the caffeine, hyper aware of Clint’s location at all times, he had a thought.

He could get used to this. 

And right on the heels of that thought came the panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this series was supposed to end here. Clint and Tony, happily together, yay!
> 
> But they just draw angst like moths to a flame, and suddenly there's this implied past abusive relationship thing Tony's got going on which needs to be resolved, and Rhodey just came out of nowhere, so yeah. The next fic will have a trigger warning for aforementioned relationship, but I don't think it'll get very graphic. Lots of hurt/comfort and overprotective Clint (and everyone else) and maybe a bit of Tony whump. What say you?
> 
> (Oh, and LOTS of feels, because Tony.)


End file.
